A recent study indicates that people who drink alcohol regularly may live longer than those who completely avoid drinking. The findings of a study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, showed that those who drink alcohol moderately have a lower mortality rates compared to people who drink alcohol heavily or those who abstain from the drink entirely.

Researchers from the University of Texas conducted a study that involved 1,824 participants with ages that range from 55 to 65 years old. The participants were observed for over 20 years. During the study period, 69 percent of the non-drinkers, 60 percent of heavy drinkers died while only 41 percent of the moderate drinkers died.

The team of researchers, led by Charles Holahan, a psychologist at the University of Texas, has taken the said results after factoring in other controlled variables such as socio-demographic, health and social-behavioral factors. The authors stated,” A model controlling for former problem drinking status, existing health problems, and key socio-demographic and social-behavioral factors, as well as for age and gender, substantially reduced the mortality effect for abstainers compared to moderate drinkers. However, even after adjusting for all covariates, abstainers and heavy drinkers continued to show increased mortality risks of 51 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively, compared to moderate drinkers.”

“Even after taking account of traditional and non-traditional covariates, moderate alcohol consumption continued to show a beneficial effect in predicting mortality risk,” the authors further added.Health – GuideTo.Com